The Boeing 727 is a narrow-body plane designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes during the early 1960s to 1984. The aircraft has a capacity of 149 to 189 passengers and can fly on a non-stop 5000-kilometer journey. Also, it can operate short flight routes at smaller airports. Therefore, the Boeing 727 aircraft specializes in short and medium flights.
After its first flight in 1980, the Boeing 727 became the most popular plane for a long time in the world. Boeing 727 was the most consumed aircraft with 1832 ones until Boeing 737 broke its record in the 1990s. Its variants include Boeing 727-100 and Boeing 727-200.
The Boeing 727 was developed by a compromise among United Airlines, American Airlines and Eastern Air Lines. Each airline had developed requirements for a jet aircraft to serve smaller cities, shorter runways and fewer passengers.
Although each airline had different requirements, they agreed on a trijet design for new plane. The Boeing 727 could use a shorter runway than most previous jets and had been extended to carry more passengers. It could replace previous jets and old propeller planes.
In 1984, production of the Boeing 727 ended with 1,832 aircraft built, of which 1,831 were delivered.
On February 9, 1963, the maiden flight of Boeing 727 was made. Eastern Airlines was the first airline to fly Boeing 727 on February 1, 1964.
In 1978, the Boeing 727 was introduced to FedEx Express and remained with the airline until the 2000s.
Despite being phased out of the US domestic service because of noise regulations, Boeing 727s were still used by many airlines, namely Sun Country, Champion Air and Ryan International Airlines.
Due to economic problems and lower passenger volumes, most airlines eliminated Boeing 727 aircraft.
The last Boeing 727 commercial passenger flight was operated on January 13, 2019 by Iran Aseman Airlines in the route between Zahedan and Tehran.
Variants |
727-100 |
727-200 |
Cockpit crew |
three: pilot, copilot, and flight engineer |
|
2-class seating |
106: 16F @ 38 ", 90Y @ 34" |
134: 20F @ 38 ", 114Y @ 34" |
1-class seating |
125 @ 34 " |
155 @ 34 " |
Exit limit |
131 |
189 |
Length |
133ft2in / 40,59m |
153ft2in / 46,68m |
Height |
34ft3in / 10,44m |
34ft11in / 10,65m |
Cabin width |
140in / 3,56m |
|
Wingspan |
108 ft / 32,92m |
|
Wing |
1.650 sq ft (153 m 2 ), 32 ° sweep |